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Fcf Survey

With the second round of the Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix fast approaching, we’d like your opinions on who will win each of the scheduled fights. Also, we’d like to hear about anything you have on your mind … the reasons for your picks, the state of MMA today, legislation and/or controversies affecting the sport, anything happening in the MMA world today. The results of the survey and some of the commentary we receive may appear in the upcoming issue of FCF.

Gerald Strebendt has agreed to step in as a late replacement and fight Sean Sherk in one of the co-main events of Extreme Challenge 58 this Friday in Medina, Minn.

"You’ll never accomplish anything great if you don’t put yourself on the line," Strebendt said. "If Sherk wasn’t one of the top guys in the wprld, I wouldn’t take the fight on such short notice. But he is one of the best, so it puts me in a position to test myself."

Strebendt is a UFC and Bushido veteran with an 8-4 MMA record. He is a brown belt in BJJ under Eddie Bravo and is a former sniper instructor for the Marines. Sherk is 24-1-1 with his lone loss coming against Matt Hughes for the UFC welterweight championship.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with the first bout at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $25 and are available at the Medina Box Office (763) 478-6661 and Minnesota Combat Arts (651) 336-2777.

MECA Vale Tudo 11 Review:
A long night to be remembered as talents emerged and one of the most unique chapters of Brazilian MMA history was written!
By Eduardo Alonso

Through its tenth previous editions, never before Meca Vale Tudo meant so much for its participants, and never before so much pressure was laid on the shoulders of those fighting during the true MMA marathon ran in the cold city of Teresopolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Through more than five hours of fights, every single fighter that stepped inside the Meca ring had both their hopes and fears to control, as Pride’s representatives Nobuyuki Sakakibara and Nobuhiko Takada were both on hand ringside. This is a rare thing even for Japanese shows, let alone a Brazilian one! With youngsters wanting to prove they are capable, and veterans trying to show they still have a lot left in their arsenal, every fighter had his reason to feel the pressure, so the question was which ones would emerge under this situation, and which would fall short in such an important outing.
Well, in that cold night some were truly ready for the task and delivered in good fashion! One of them was new Gracie Barra Combat Team addition Gustavo "Ximu" Machado. Facing extremely tough Chute Boxe fighter Nilson de Castro, this fight was as important to one as it was to the other, since Nilson was coming of a series of losses, while Ximu suffered a KO win at KOTC and had a controversial win over Allan Goes at Heat FC 2. However, what was seen Through the three rounds of fighting was Gustavo controlling most of the action, surprisingly feeling comfortable in the stand up against a barely recognizable De Castro in terms of striking. During the whole fight Ximu was able to land endless kicks to Nilson’s legs, as well as several uppercuts, getting the better of the stand up. As the fight progressed and the Chute Boxe fighter tried to be more aggressive, Ximu used takedowns and ground and pound to secure a very solid judges’ decision win. This was the third fight of the night, following a good outing by Shooto veteran Luciano Azevedo, who had way superior stand up than Brazilian Top Team fighter Suyan Queiroz, what helped him to punish and tire Suyan out during the first rounds, to finally score a beautiful submission just like Rodrigo Minotauro did to Mark Coleman, in a triangle choke switching to armbar. The second fight of the night saw Spanish Anotonio Tello entering the fight under the Chute Boxe banner, but having no chance against Fabricio Monteiro who needed barely 30 seconds to knock him out with punches.